Italian All-in-One For Dummies (120 page)

With verbs of motion, such as
andare
(
to go
),
venire
(
to come
), and
viaggiare
(
to travel
), you use
da
(
from
) or
a
(
to
). But the verb
partire
(
to leave
) requires the preposition
per
(
for; to
) to indicate the destination, so you say,
Vanno da Roma ad Atene
(
They'll go from Rome to Athens
) but
Partiamo per Nairobi
(
We're leaving for Nairobi
).

For expressing
through,
use
da
and
per: Passate da/per Oslo?
(
Are you going/driving/flying through Oslo?
);
Non passate per il bosco!
(
Don't go through the woods!
)

For expressing
across,
use
dall'altra parte di: Il tabaccaio è dall'altra parte della strada
(
The tobacconist is across the street
).

For expressing
between/among,
use
fra/tra: Tra le case c'è una staccionata
(
There is a fence between the houses
). Italian doesn't distinguish whether you're choosing
between
two things or
among
several things.

Place and function

If you say
I'm going to the doctor's,
you can convey two ideas at once: a physical movement (going to your doctor's office) and the service provided there (you're seeing a doctor because you aren't feeling well). In Italian, you can use the following prepositions to express place and function at the same time:

in
+ (no article) noun (neither names nor pronouns):
in chiesa
(
at/to church
);
in ospedale
(
at/to the hospital
);
in casa
(
home; at home
);
in giardino
(
in/to/into the garden
);
in latteria
(
at/to the dairy store
);
in ufficio
(
at the office
)

a
+ noun/name of a city:
a casa
(
at/to home
);
a teatro
(
at/to the theater
);
a scuola
(
at/to school
);
a Palermo
(
in Palermo
)

a
+ definite article + noun (neither names nor pronouns):
all'asilo
(
at/to kindergarten
);
al negozio di . . .
(
at/to the . . . store
);
all'ospedale
(
in/to the hospital
);
al cinema
(
at/to the movie theater
)

da
+ noun, name, or pronoun of a person's profession or role:
dal macellaio
(
at/to the butcher's
);
dal dottore
(
at/to the doctor's
);
da zia Lilla
(
at/to Aunt Lilla's
);
da noi
(
at/to our place
)

Time

With prepositions, time behaves somewhat like space: Things can happen at a specific moment, as in
a Natale
(
at Christmas
), or during a period of time, as in
nel 1975
(
in 1975
). Or they can take a chunk of time, as in
per tre mesi
(
for three months
).

Often you can express time without prepositions, as you can do in English. Examples of such situations include

When something happens on a day of the week, as in
Lo vedo domenica
(
I'll see him this Sunday
)

When you talk about duration, as in
Stanno in Svezia tre mesi
(
They'll stay/be in Sweden for three months
)